Just because California had one wet winter doesn’t mean Palisades residents can slack on our water conservation efforts. Drought conditions are sure to return, and we need to retool our homes, inside and out, to be prepared.

The good news is that there are programs to help homeowners save money on efforts aimed at using water more wisely. For example, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power last fall increased rebates to $5 per square foot to replace lawns with sustainable landscaping (ladwp.com/landscaping). They also offer an extensive collection of other rebates and programs to help homeowners (ladwp.com/save) and business owners (ladwp.com/cwr) use water more efficiently.

The Dashboard.Earth app is another way to find ideas for how to conserve water, and it’s got plenty of positive actions even for those who don’t have much of a yard. The motto of this forward-looking app is: “It’s time to start feeling good about the future.”

The app offers step-by-step guidance to take meaningful actions, recommended by local nonprofit group LA Waterkeeper as well as groups like Resilient Palisades. It connects users to a community of like-minded, water-wise Angelenos. When you have completed an action—by swapping in a low-flow showerhead, for example—the app calculates your impact on local climate resilience. It makes small steps toward conservation feel a lot more meaningful.

Please join me in keeping up the good work when it comes to water conservation and continuing to ramp up our efforts to ensure LA’s water security for the long run.

Jon Varat
Board Chair, Los Angeles Waterkeeper